ABILENE, Texas — Hardin-Simmons swept a rare tripleheader on Saturday as the Cowboys beat Schreiner 9-6, 9-5 and 14-1 in American Southwest Conference action at Hunter Field.
HSU is off to its best start ever at 17-5 and HSU improved to 5-1 in ASC West Division action and are currently in a three-way tie for first place with Concordia and Texas Lutheran. HSU plays at Concordia next weekend after a Tuesday game at No. 12 Trinity. Schreiner fell to 4-15 overall and 1-5 in ASC action.
Game 1
The teams' game on Friday night was halted in the third inning on Friday night it picked up in the top of the third with bases loaded. Parker Robinson, who came on for Sam Walker, to start today's game got a fly out to get out of the jam.
HSU tied the game in the fifth when LeJuan Edwards singled home Brian Weeks. However, in the sixth inning Schreiner responded with five runs to take a 6-1 lead. Justin Martinez walked to lead off the inning and Jesse Paredes singled and Marcus Myhaver walked to load the bases with one out and chase Robinson. Michael Rinehardt came in and was greeted with a two-run double by Oscar Ibieta and Chase Valdez followed with an RBI double. After a strikeout Brad Thomas had an RBI double.
The Cowboys answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Taylor Berlin doubled and Troy Tarrant walked and Andrew Rehling drove in Berlin with a double to center. Weeks had a sacrifice fly to right that was dropped and allowed two runs to score.
HSU added an RBI double in the seventh by Tarrant to make it 6-5. Tyler Brunnemann came on for the Cowboys and worked a scoreless eighth after runners were on first and second and no outs. He got a strikeout and double play ball to end the inning.
HSU then exploded for four runs in the eighth to take a 9-5 lead. Weeks led off with a double and moved to third on a Jon Finney single. Weeks scored on a balk and Finney moved to third. Chris Matthews had a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to give the Cowboys the lead with one out and nobody on. Edwards then walked, Bryan Blare was hit by a pitch and Cody Jarboe walked to load the bases. Berlin then was hit by a pitch and Tarrant had an RBI fielder's choice to make it 9-6.
Brunnemann closed the game out with a scoreless ninth to improve to 1-1 on the year. Colton Mendenhall took the loss in relief for Schreiner. Weeks, Finney and Berlin all had two hits for the Cowboys and Valdez had three hits and drove in two and Paredes had three hits for Schreiner.
Game 2
The Cowboys put the Mountaineers away early in the second game with eight runs in the first two innings, which were more than enough for Blake Sieck, who went the distance to improve to 3-0. He allowed only three earned runs and struck out six while scattering nine hits. Daniel Brewer, who gave up 10 hits and eight runs in an inning and one-third of work took the loss. Ethan Catalani worked four and one-third innings and allowed just one hit and one run in relief.
After Schreiner scored a run on a Valder RBI single, the Cowboys pounded out five straight doubles in the bottom of the first to score three times. Jay Hiller led that off with a one-out double but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple. Brian Weeks, Taylor Berlin, Troy Tarrant and Andew Rehling each followed with consecutive two-baggers.
In the second inning, HSU used the long ball to score five times. Finney and Joey Dearing had back-to-back singles to start the inning and Edwards hit a three-run home run to right center to make it 6-1. Tarrant added a two-run shot in the inning.
Each team scored a run in the fourth, Schreiner on a wild pitch and HSU on a bases loaded walk by Berlin. Schreiner added a solo home run by Thomas in the sixth and two unearned runs in the seventh.
Chris Whitehead had three hits each for Schreiner and Hiller had three hits and Edwards drove in three for HSU.
Game 3
HSU once again put away Schreiner with a strong offensive start. HSU scored eight times in the first two innings and never looked back.
In the first inning, Weeks had a two-run double. HSU scored six times in the second inning. Finney, Hiller and Jarboe had RBI singles in the inning and Weeks blasted a three-run home run to center field.
Kyle D'Alessio was in control throughout for the Cowboys. He went eight strong innings allowing only seven hits (six of which were singles) and he allowed one run while striking out six to improve to 2-0. James Simmons worked a scoreless ninth inning.
Schreiner scored its lone run in the fifth inning on an RBI double by Houser. The Cowboys scored six times in the sixth inning. Berlin had a two-run single, Rehling had a two-run triple, Jarboe had an RBI single and the last run scored on an error.
Weeks had three hits and drove in five and Hiller had three hits and scored three times for HSU. Thomas and Houser had two hits each for Schreiner.
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